The invention relates to the non-therapeutic use of selected β-glucuronidase-inhibiting substances in a cosmetic deodorant or antiperspirant composition for reducing the body odor caused by decomposition of steroid esters.
Apocrine perspiration is a complex mixture which comprises, inter alia, steroids, cholesterol and other fats as well as approx. 10% of proteins. The decomposition products of apocrine perspiration, which substantially contribute towards body odor, in particular axillary body odor, can be divided into two classes, on the one hand short-chain, in particular C4-C10-fatty acids, which can be linear, branched, saturated and unsaturated, and on the other hand various steroid hormones and degradation products thereof. The metabolism products of androgens, in particular androstenol (5α-androst-16-en-3β-ol, 5α-androst-16-en-3α-ol) and androstenone (5α-androst-16-en-3-one), for example, are involved in typical body odor, especially in men.
Steroids themselves are not water-soluble. In order to be able to be transported away with body fluids, they are usually present in the form of sulfate or glucuronide. On the skin, cleavage of these steroid esters into the volatile free steroids takes place by means of hydrolytic enzymes of the skin bacteria, in particular the coryneform bacteria. All bacterial exoesterases are in principle capable of this, but especially the enzyme β-glucuronidase.
The deodorant compositions which are active according to the invention can intervene at this point and inhibit the activity of the bacterial exoesterases. They therefore differ from the purely bacteriostatic or bactericidal compositions of the prior art, which can have the disadvantage of impairing the naturally occurring microflora of the skin.
Combating body odor caused by steroids by inhibiting β-glucuronidase is known in the prior art, for example from the publications U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,559 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,937. However, with Cu2+, zinc glycinate, hexametaphosphate, D-glucaro-δ-lactone, EDTA, NTA, ortho-phenanthroline and sodium sulfate, these documents disclose only a small number of β-glucuronidase-inhibiting active compounds.
The object of the present invention was to identify further β-glucuronidase-inhibiting active compounds in order to render possible a wider variability, flexibility and skin tolerability in the formulation of cosmetic deodorants. The identification of known cosmetic active compounds as β-glucuronidase inhibitors moreover renders possible a lowering of the dosage of these active compounds. The enzyme-inhibiting action often already manifests itself at low active compound concentrations at which no bacteriostatic or bactericidal action is yet found. It has been found, surprisingly, that the use of aryl-sulfatase inhibitors in deodorants is suitable, especially in men, for preventing the formation of body odor. It is possible here for the expert, in the context of his general technical knowledge, to coordinate the active compounds in the deodorant composition in respect of their amount and/or their nature to the particular user group in a sex-specific manner.